The Empathy Factory

I love it when I get to connect our organization with other organizations that believe in the potential of kids.  Last year, I stumbled on a Halifax-based organization called The Empathy Factory.  The brain child of Blair Ryan and Stefanie Shute (and supported by an impressive list of volunteers), the organization seeks to help children tap into their innate generosity and empower them to change the world, one project at a time.

Blair is coming to our school later today to meet with our staff, introduce the program and get the team on board as we prepare to get our students involved.  I'll blog along over the next several months and ask our students to share their thoughts and inspirations.  In the meantime, here's a little bit more information  Blair shared with me on The Empathy Factory.  Their website launches tomorrow (congratulations!!), and they have a Facebook page where you can learn more as well. 

Rhonda


The Empathy Factory

About Us:

We empower children to take action and make to the world a better place. Our leadership inspires and challenges youth to tap into their empathy and create social change. Children are often 'accused' of having unabashed optimism, but this is exactly what we promote. The Empathy Factory was founded on the belief that by instilling empathy in our youth, injustices will be stopped, communities transformed and hope inspired.

Mission

The mission of the Empathy Factory is to instill a sense of empathy and a philanthropic spirit in Nova Scotia's youth.

Vision

To build a generation of generous, conscientious humanitarians. To empower children to effect the world and be socially conscious global citizens.

Values

Leadership, Inspiration, and Positive Change

The Empathy Factory is an organization with the authority to lead, the creativity to inspire and the will to initiate positive social change.

Innovation, Collaboration, and Empowerment

Through strategic collaboration and empowerment of our youth, the Empathy Factory will inspire a generation of proactive and innovative philanthropists.

Our Beliefs

At the Empathy Factory, we believe that children are innately generous, and that they have some of the most altruistic and wonderful ideas to help their friends, family, community, and the world. If there is anything that consistently slows them down from being the change, it's that they lack certain resources. Sometimes that's money, sometimes it's support, and sometimes it's even the belief in themselves. In consideration of this, we've created a program where children can pursue their philanthropic ideas and never have to look back! Read on to hear how we do it:

The Process

We visit schools throughout Nova Scotia and deliver workshops on the value of volunteering, philanthropy, and related topics to children aged 8-15. We then challenge them to submit ideas that will better their communities in the categories of Health, Environment, Social Justice and/or Education. The top one or two ideas at each school receive the full support and mentorship of the Empathy Factory staff and volunteers throughout the execution of their ideas. Upon completion of the projects, we ensure that each student involved submits a reflection of their learning outcomes, successes, and failures.

The Outcomes

Our programs have been developed to foster learning in areas deemed to be desirable curricular outcomes by the Nova Scotia Department of Education. To that end, you can see below a sample (based on Grade 8 curriculum) of outcomes that our workshops address:

Citizenship - Worldly look at political, economic, and social systems; discuss human rights issues; identifying the principles and actions of just societies

Communication - Explore, reflect on, and express personal ideas/learnings/perceptions/feelings; create and present instructions/processes clearly, logically, concisely, and accurately; critically reflect on and interpret ideas presented through a variety of media

Personal Development - Students are empowered to make the transition to work and further learning; make decisions and assume responsibility for them; work and study purposefully; demonstrate understanding of the relationship between health and lifestyle; demonstrate intellectual curiosity, and entrepreneurial spirit, and initiative; reflect critically on ethical issues

Problem Solving - Formulate ideas and question their own assumptions and those of others; solve problems individually and collaboratively; ask questions, observe relationships, and draw conclusions; use a variety of strategies and perspectives with flexibility and creativity for solving problems.